Happy New Year!

What a great way to start off 2009! Beev and I ran in the Cobweb Chaser at 10am on New Year's Day in McAllister Park. Here we are pre-race (self-portrait style)

We were both pretty tired from staying up too late the night before: New Year's Eve and all the festivities! So, our goal changed to just finish without stopping. We were not going to worry about beating our time from the last run. Anyway, the weather was fantastic: cool and sunny. The trail was pretty flat (thank goodness) and the path went through the trees.

While we were at the start line, we met a girl who also works where we do and just took up running. Maybe we'll see her on the trails at work! She took this next picture before the race. Why do I have to look like such a giant next to Beev in all these pics???

Sang the national anthem too. Learning that this seems to be traditional before each race.

2 of my friends from church were supposed to meet us there to run. Neither made it. Frankly, I'm glad neither ran with us, because I am so slow!! It's a little embarrassing how slow I am when I compare myself to real runners. But I just have to remind myself that you gotta start somewhere and running slowly is better than not running at all. Plus, I'm having fun and improving my health.

We ran our first mile pretty fast (for us). Somewhere between 2 and 3 miles, I developed a cramp in my side. It wasn't bad enough to stop running, but we did slow a bit. As we were coming to the finish line, one of the friends (Paul) who was supposed to run with us was watching for us along the side of the path. I'm glad he was there, but also thought "oh brother...Need to finish strong". So, we picked up the pace just a little to finish. We ended up beating our last run by 8 seconds! So we finished in 40 mins and 23 seconds. If Paul had not been there, I have a feeling we would have missed our previous time. Who knows? Anyway, we accomplished both of our goals: finish without stopping and beat our previous time. Yeah us!!!

After the race, the San Antonio Roadrunners had food and drinks for everyone to enjoy. We hung out for a while. We ran into John from work. His wife, Ashley, owns a local running store that helped to sponsor this event.

It was a great day! I had a bunch of fun. We plan to attempt 4 miles this Tuesday. That will be the farthest yet! Beev, this is the year we'll do the half-marathon! Go turtles! I'm so excited!

Happy New Year!

-Perry